Lesson 12

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Lesson 12 TEF's

Notes to Lesson 12

A brief description of Lesson 12 is Lesson 11 transposed to all the orchestra keys.  Perhaps you're starting to wonder "why do orchestras prefer those flat keys so much?"  Perhaps a bit out of the scope of this course, I think an explanation is worth the extra activity.   The short answer is "hundreds of years of tradition unhampered by progress."  Most of the horns (sometimes called the brass) and woodwinds are known as "Bb instruments", and a few are known as "Eb instruments".  When the performer of a Bb instrument reads and plays a C note, the note the horn produces is a Bb.  In guitar terms, all notes on a Bb instrument sound two frets lower than they read.  Let's say we have a small group of guitar, bass, tenor sax, clarinet, and drums and we want to arrange a tune with parts for all.  We'll probably write an overall score in the key we wish to play the tune, let's say "F".  When we make individual parts for each player,  the guitarist and bassist will have parts that are written in F, but the sax and clarinet parts will be written in the key of G (two frets higher in guitar terms.)   The first time I went through Mickey's course I questioned the need for "Db" and "Ab" until I learned that to get those tonalities, horn players play in Eb and Bb (much easier keys for the average performer to read.)  As a little musical trivia, a concert pianist once told me that her least favorite key was Db Major.  A few weeks later, a self-taught pianist that played entirely by ear said that his favorite key has always been C# with so much being on the black keys.

In questioning musicians with much more experience than I have, the answer I get as to why is they just don't make C horns and woodwinds, more times than not, is "we've always done it that way."  

If we arrange a piece in one of the traditional guitar keys like A or E, horn players have to read in the keys of B or F# (5 and 6 sharps).

Let's return to Lesson 12.

Mickey notes that often minor chords a 5th higher or a 4th lower substitute for dominant chords.  Although Mickey avoids these titles, many Jazz theorists refer to this as a "ii - V" progression.  That's a helpful concept to me and I include it with hope that it's going to be helpful to you, too.  Our first assignment is to make a chart showing all the dominant chords (V) and their minor substitutes (ii). 

Mickey just tells us that a minor chord can sub for a dominant, but he doesn't tell us why.  It's sufficient to note that any of the "flavors" of G minor can substitute for a C7.  If you're new to these forms, then stop right here and maybe return to this lesson in a few months to allow yourself to become comfortable with a chord philosophy that works.

The G minor flavors include, but are not limited to, G min, G min7, G min6, G min9, G min11, G min7b5.  It seems to me that what's important is that we substitute with order and taste as we discussed in Lesson 10.

A C7 comprises  C - E - G - Bb .  If we add a D to that we have a C9.   Notice that the 5th, 7th, and 9th are the notes of G min:  G - Bb - D.  If your bass player plays a C, the melody instrument plays an E, and you strum a G minor chord, your audience will hear a C9.

Let's add a 7th to our G min which is F:  G - Bb - D - F.    Remember it's going to progress to a C7 (C - E - G - Bb).  Let's insert a chord between the G min7 and the C7.  This chord will be identical to the G min7, except we'll change the 5th from a D to a C:  G - Bb - C - F.  Now let's juggle the notes using C as our start note:  C - F - G - Bb.  This new chord is a hybrid of the G min and the C7 and makes a softer resolution or transition from G min7 to C7.  Many musicians call this chord a C7 sus(pended) 4, sometimes written C7+4.  The F is the fourth note and it is suspended above the 3rd.  The 3rd is the color note that tells us if the chord is going to be major, minor, augmented, and diminished (the last two need more data, though!).  Mickey gives us a couple of forms that can be used as this 7sus4 chord.  He calls them "11" (Forms 13 and 30).

Another way of looking at a G min as a sub for C7 is that it is not really a sub at all, but just the upper notes of the C13.  When we use a min6 chord, it becomes even more like the dominant because the 6 of the minor is the 3rd of the dominant!  I'm sure that there are a number of folks that first saw Mickey's form 5 and said "oh, I know that chord, it's C9 with the 5th in the bass."

Now if you're just "itching" for an assignment:

Try transposing these exercises to the missing guitar friendly keys:  D, A, and E.  As always, if you send me your work to share with others, I'll put it in a special distribution and add it to the lesson.  Don't forget to tell me if you want credit for your work.

Just keep it FUN!